UNHCR/ A. KIRCHHOF A returnee who was able to go home, after fleeing Burundi in 1972, and his 18-year old daughter. II. Overview of global trends By the end of 2009, the total population under UNHCR’s responsibility stood at 36.5 million. This figure takes into consideration new displacement, durable solutions found, improved availability of data, revised estimates, and legal and demographic changes. The analysis in this report is based on individual population groups. Fig 1 Refugees and IDPs By the end of 2009, there were an estimated 10.4 protected / assisted by UNHCR million refugees under UNHCR’s responsibility, 1997-2009 (end-year) including some 1.6 million people in refugee-like 16 (Mln.) situations.(9) The number of IDPs protected and/or 14 assisted by UNHCR was the highest on record. A total 12 of 15.6 million IDPs, including 129,000 people in IDP10 like situations, were receiving humanitarian assistance 8 under arrangements in which UNHCR was either a 6 lead agency or a key partner. 4 2 Refugees IDPs protected/assisted The number of returnees shows a divergent picture. While 2.2 million IDPs were able to return home during '97 '98 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07 '08 '09 the year, the highest in at least a decade, only 251,500 refugees repatriated voluntarily, the lowest level since 1990. The asylum-seeker population, that is people whose asylum applications had not yet been adjudicated by the end of the reporting period, increased to 983,000. During 2009, UNHCR identified some 6.6 million stateless persons in 60 countries but estimated the total number of stateless persons worldwide at almost double that number, or some 12 million people.(10) There are an additional 411,000 individuals who do not fall into any of the above categories (known as “other groups or people of concern”) but who received protection and/or assistance from UNHCR based on humanitarian or other special grounds. 9 Ninety-two per cent of the 1.6 million people in a refugee-like situation are located in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Pakistan, and Venezuela (the Bolivarian Republic of). 10 Refugees and asylum-seekers who are at the same time also stateless, are not included in the stateless population figure. They are rather reflected in the figures relating to refugees and asylum-seekers. 4 2009 Global Trends